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2:19pm UK, Wednesday September 22, 2010 Robert Nisbet, US correspondent Nick Clegg has defended the government's commitment to pouring millions into international aid, while cutting budgets and services back home. The deputy Prime Minister is in New York attending a three-day summit at the United Nations to assess whether the Millennium Development Goals are still on target. Leaders from 192 countries set eight ambitious goals, including eradicating hunger and poverty, reducing child mortality rates and promoting gender equality. They also agreed goals on maternal health and creating a global partnership for development by 2015. Mr Clegg will confirm in a...

The Federal Government announced charges today against a ring of foreign corporations and executives who conspired to bring antibiotic-laden Chinese honey illegally into the US, in an attempt to avoid paying millions in fees. A federal grand jury in Chicago indicted top executives of German food conglomerate Alfred L Wolff GmbH, and several of its affiliated companies for allegedly importing more than $US40 million in Chinese honey, but saying it originated elsewhere in order to avoid paying duties of nearly $US80 million that were levied on Chinese honey.

Ginsburg: OK to look to foreign law for good ideas (AP) Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg says judges can look to foreign law for good ideas without diminishing their ability to apply U.S. law faithfully. Ginsburg told a meeting of international lawyers Friday that American judges can learn from their foreign counterparts when seeking solutions to "trying questions." Ginsburg said high court nominee Elena Kagan got it right when she told senators at her confirmation hearing that she was in favor of good ideas "wherever you can get them." Ginsburg acknowledged that other justices, including Antonin Scalia, are sharp...

The Socialist International recently met in New York to affirm, what is essentially a blueprint for the destruction of U.S. and Israeli independence and the advancement of a "World Governance" agenda. At the Meeting of the Council of the Socialist International, United Nations, New York, 21-22 June 2010 U.S. delegates included Puerto Rican Independence Party members Ruben Berrios Martinez and Fernando Martin Garcia and from Democratic Socialists of America, Frank Llewellyn, Joseph Schwartz, David Duhalde, Alejandro Duhalde and George "Skip" Roberts, a former aide to D.S.A. member, Obama friend and ally and former Hawaii Congressman Neil Abercrombie. Many leading Democrats...

FEED Obama, Struggling on Homefront, Still a Global Pop Star, Poll Finds 6 hours ago 107 Comments Say Something » Print Text Size EmailMore Tom Diemer Editor Author Bio » Contact Author » Subscribe :At home it's all about oil spill, a staggering deficit, high unemployment and the blood and treasure pouring into two wars. But in most parts of the world, American President Barack Obama remains highly popular, an international pop star leading a country that is more warmly received in most quarters than it was under his predecessor, George W. Bush. Yet the favorable findings in an extensive...

This is a consolidation of the current threads on FR. It is intended to make discussion and updates easier. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2526123/posts http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2526200/posts http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2526225/posts http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2526245/posts

The International Federation of Journalists has expelled the Israeli branch after refusing to allow it to pay the same reduced amount of dues levied on neighboring countries, such as Jordan. Chaim Shibi, an Israeli branch official and veteran Israeli journalist, charged that the action by the international body is the culmination of a long-standing anti-Israeli bias.

President Barack Obama optimistically opened a 47-nation nuclear summit Monday, boosted by Ukraine's announcement that it will give up its weapons-grade uranium. More sobering: Obama's counterterrorism chief pointedly warned that al-Qaida is vigorously pursuing material and expertise for a bomb.

Note Video included at article link. SNIPPET: "(CNSNews.com) - The Internal Revenue Service has launched a new global program to target what it calls “high wealth individuals,” IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman said Monday. “Through our new global high wealth operating unit we are taking a unified look at the entire web of business and economic entities controlled by high wealth individuals so we can better assess the risk such arrangements pose to tax compliance,” Shulman said at the National Press Club on Monday. Shulman said the IRS is using “our robust and evolving enforcement program that ensures that everyone pays...

Former Gitmo detainee Moazzam Begg is a committed jihadist and unabashed supporter of the Taliban. (See this Weekly Standard essay by Tom Joscelyn, which collects other Begg links.) In the fashion of CAIR — a creation of the Muslim Brotherhood formed to support its causes, such as Hamas, in the camouflage of a "civil rights" organization — Begg shrewdly realized he could win fawning admirers and allies on the Left by posing as a human rights activist. So he formed a group in Britain, Cageprisoners, which claims to be a civil rights organization whle promoting the Islamist agenda — and...

CONFIRMED: South Korean Ship Goes Down, Gold Soaring Joe Weisenthal Mar. 26, 2010, 11:29 AM Update 2: According to YONHAP news agency, 104 sailors were on board and only 58 have been accounted for. Update: And now WSJ says a Korean ship went down near the border, probably due to a torpedo. Original post: Check out gold! Rumor going around has to do with hostilities between the Koreas. This comes the same day comments from North Korean media about Kim Jon Il wanting to drop a nuke on the west, so you can see why folks are jittery.[snip]

It is pertinent to note that the level of legislative restriction surrounding firearms ownership differs between the three countries. For example, Canada and New Zealand permit the ownership and use of the types of firearms that are banned in Australia. In addition, Canada, like Australia, mandates registration of all firearms whereas New Zealand, unlike Canada and Australia, does not require registration of all firearms. However, these differences do not appear to be reflected in the long-term declines in homicide rates, suggesting the need to consider other explanations for the trends.

There seems little doubt that the next big gun rights battle will be on the global front, thanks to efforts by anti-gun governments to not only disarm their citizens, but also lobby at the United Nations to compel the U.S. government to ratchet down on our gun rights. Well, good luck with that! There are an estimated 80-90 million gun owners in this country, and they own an estimated 200-250 million firearms. All of these guns that the gun control fanatics don’t want us to have; we’ve already got them. Events over the past decade have emphasized the need to...

The Obama administration promised increased transparency in government but has rolled back rules proposed by the Bush administration that expanded the financial disclosure statements required of labor unions and their leaders. Since President Obama took office, the Labor Department has rescinded or delayed three sets of rules proposed by the George W. Bush administration that would have required unions and their leaders to more specifically detail their finances, according to a review of records by The Washington Times. The rules were rolled back while the Obama administration was seeking more stringent regulation of corporate America, including banks, insurance companies, health...

Prosecutors on Tuesday interrogated 51 Turkish military commanders, including former air force and navy chiefs, over alleged plans to destabilize the country by blowing up mosques to trigger a coup and topple the Islamic-rooted government. Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/02/23/turkey-coup-commanders.html#ixzz0gd1zR6R6

A lot of investors I talk to are so discouraged by the mess the American economy is in that they're looking to put all their money overseas. Doesn't matter where. As long as it's not America. That's a real mistake. It's a form of myopia. Sure we've got problems. But because we all live here, we see those problems up close and personal. What we don't see is that right now everyone has problems. It's just that the problems in other economies seem smaller because they're farther away. So if you invest outside this country -- for no better reason...

On Sunday, Gita Sahgal, head of the gender unit at Amnesty’s international secretariat, shared with the Times of London that Moazzam Begg, a former terrorist, inmate at Guantanamo Bay, and Britain's leading supporter of terrorism has strong ties with Amnesty International. In an email sent to Amnesty’s top bosses, she suggests the charity has mistakenly allied itself with Begg and his “jihadi” group, Cageprisoners, out of fear of being branded racist and Islamophobic. Sahgal describes Begg as “Britain’s most famous supporter of the Taliban”. He has championed the rights of jailed Al-Qaeda members and hate preachers, including Anwar al-Awlaki, the...

F for Failure: Economy, Bipartisanship, War on Terror, International RelationsAs Obama’s first year in office approaches, his long calendar of corruption and failure flutters its windblown leaves into the abyss of the past. Let us take a brief look back at the full unmitigated ugliness of the Sham in Chief’s first year in office… for a proper report card. The Economy Obama campaigned on promises to help create jobs and fix the economy. War on Terror On the war, Obama promised to use multilateralism to create a new alliance using soft power. Bipartisanship Obama promised a new era of bipartisanship...

Roubini: Latin America Will Have Killer Growth In 2010 Gus LubinDec. 21, 2009, 9:56 AM Although bearish for the U.S. economy, Nourel Roubini can't get enough of Latin America. To wit, he recently upgraded his growth outlook for Latin America in 2010 from 3.3 to 3.8. The economist explained this upgrade in an interview with the Americas Society: AS: What is behind this increasingly positive outlook for Latin America? Roubini: There are two things. One is that global economic and financial conditions are improving. There is a recovery of growth even if it’s going to be anemic. Commodity prices have...

Gun control proponents often claim that suicide rates are driven by firearms availability. For example, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence promotes the “guns cause suicide” hypothesis. They note that nearly 17,000 people kill themselves with firearms each year, concluding: Without stronger, sensible gun laws, thousands upon thousands of people will continue to die and be injured needlessly each year. The Brady Campaign fights for sensible gun laws to protect you, your family, and your community. If guns cause suicide, international organizations must have some data proving this claim. Or do they? The United Nations (UN) recently reaffirmed its...